Pah! That's NUFFING,Luna. WE were so poor there were 12 of us living in a hole in the road which we shared with three other families! I used to get up half an hour before I went to bed,and carry my granny piggy-back 25 miles to the mill,where I'd do a 14 hour shift dead-lifting 112lb flour sacks onto trailers before running 15 miles in my bare feet to the docks to start a 12 hour shift stacking lumber by hand-then run back to the mill,collect granny and carry her the 25 miles home where I'd be relentlessly beaten with a broken bottle set into a pickaxe handle until it was time to get up and start again. And all for half a plate of cold maggot stew a month! But they were good times. . . . . [beat THAT,ya sod!]
We were so poor that "hit the hay" actually meant go into the farm field out back and grab some hay to stuff our mattresses with.
You're SO right nevvo; I was telling some kids earlier today that we were so poor Santa used to leave us an I.O.U. and that we had to go rat-hunting so we could have Christmas dinner,then walk along the beach collecting driftwood to cook it on. When I told them we used to rub two boy scouts together to make a spark as we couldn't afford matches the little blighters called me a liar!
I was so poor I didn't bother with Santa's IOUs, at Christmastime I deliberately misbehaved so he would leave coal in my stocking! Only thing that kept me warm! But when I tell this story to some young snot does he believe me? NO!!!
You had it easy. We used to sleep in freezing puddles [which were lent to us] DREAMING of ramen noodle souffle'!
(KUDOS TO MONTY PYTHON) My dear old Dad supported ten kids with a job cleaning public toilets! After five years he received a promotion: they gave him a brush!
